The Dillon tribune., 1887-03-11
About 3.W, Missourians joined his stand.

About 5000 Missourians joined his sta,l.
ard, but no more
Meantime. Nov. /, 1861. Mcclellan b,,,
been appointed commander in chief Of MI ~,
armies and there had been n shaking nm nq
generals and Il new deal all around. rrcn,ont
was removed from the department of ,ho
Missouri and the command given to lEnl,acl,
fremont had onco driven Price ont, Of Mis-.
scur INTO Arkansas. But OIL Fre,nout', T..
tlrrlnert Price Immediately returned to tl,,
Old ground aud issued the lively proclamo
ton.
AS soo.l KS he could get squared about in hi.
new sta!'lt ST. Louis Hallcck sent Brig. Cen
Samuel Il. Curtis after Price with IN arm,
which finally, including the re.enforcc,neuts
auded from time to time, amounted to 12,-
OVO meli. Curtis was an Ohio na,,. a West
Point graduate, and he had t,.n I, colonel il.
the Mexican war. He had been a congress
man from Iowa, and lived in that state when
the civil war broke out.
An instructive part Of war history is ro.
from reading the correspondence and the re-
ports in tho government archives Nearly
all the generals in the field constantly lex the
department commanders for rc-e,,forcements.
and a,'e answered that rc-cnforcencnts are
being forwarded as fast az possible.
In Halleck's instruction to Curtis he con.
stantly urges the latter to keep bis men to.
gether, and not let the enemy fight him ip
detail. "Throw out your cavalry carefully, y
says Halleck, "like fingers to the hand, SO that
they can be drawn in on the main body. -
Curtis, In one Of his letters, declares that he
must have cavalry horses 400 new sets of ar
tillciy harness and 10000 pairs of pants. "
Halleck answers back that "pants will be
sent," but he ca.,not spare any horses.
Miss ol.ri aud Arkansas were the scene Of
tho most desperate guerrilla fighting Of the
war, and this fact is also reflected in Curtis
letters. He tells Col. Clark Wright: There
is u great set of rogucs about ketsville and
hope you will find and arrest and send bacl,
the most OF them. Another Of Curtis order.
is very strict in regard to protection of pri
vate property. He will not permit houses to
be entered, unless for spies, arms or soldiers.
"Restrain Your troops from acts of cruelty
and folly he directs Col. Wright
Gen. Price wintercd ut Springfield. getting
recruits md supplies. February IL, Curtis
began his march against Price, \s he ap
rroaclcl. Price retrcatcd south. and finally
went over tho bordcr into Arkansas. II,
campnl at a place called Cross Hullows
Curtis cavalry followed il, close pursuit
Price retreated hastily, leaving II number OF
sick and considerable amount, Of commits
sary stores behind him. Flo burned his bar
racks at Gross TIolows.
Near this place occurred one of those out
RACES Of the war which all must reg1e: now
Some OF PRICES provisions were left at Il ham
let called Mud Town. Some Ccnfetlerat,
officers, before they abandoned these, scat
tered poison over them. Federal officers ant
men following on found the provisions, at.
of them and sickcncd and died. Who per
pctratcl the act has never been exactly asce1
tanned. But it shows what warfare in Mis-
souri, and Arkansas meant in those days.
Price continued rctreatinG til: he came {,
Boston mountains, Look on the map un,
you will sec a spur of the Ozarl, range On
tending into the northwest corner of Arka,,
sas. about fifty miles south Of the border
This is tho Boston mount;,i,ss. Il strct.l. q
hills ",MO fee. high.
Gen. Earl Van Dorm had been recently al
pointed to the command of the Confcdcrat